Budget Committee

The Executive Council’s Joint Budget Committee met October 4-6, 2023, to create a working budget for the 2025-2027 triennium. The Joint Budget Committee will be presenting a working budget to the Executive Council at its meeting October 24-27, 2023. The working budget will be made available to the general public following that meeting at this link.

The Budget Narrative for the 2025-2027 Budget is available here.

The working budget is predicated on the following assumptions:

• Diocesan assessment will remain at the current level of 15%
• Growth in the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS) investments would be 10% for 2023, 7.5% in 2024 and 2025
• The Episcopal Church will draw no more that 5% on a rolling average from the past 5 years of the income derived from its unrestricted reserves

Formulation of the working budget resulted from open, realistic, and transparent discussions with the DFMS Executive Leadership Team. When it was evident that the starting point budget exceeded expected income, the committee asked the leadership team to offer reductions to its budget, but only to the extent that the team can still accomplish the mission of The Episcopal Church. After reviewing the proposed working budget from the leadership team, the budget committee worked with the team at its October meeting to craft the working budget. The working budget will be made available at the end of October 2023.

It is crucial that the Joint Budget Committee receives input from the public from the beginning of November 2023 to January 2024 on the working budget, prior to the budget’s presentation to the Executive Council in January 2024. Under the new canons, rules, and bylaws that now govern the budgetary process (resulting from the passage of Resolution A048 at the last General Convention), the final budget must be presented to and approved by the Executive Council at its January 2024 meeting. At that point the budget will be locked until it is presented on the floor of General Convention in June 2024 for discussion and adoption.

The Joint Budget Committee invites The Episcopal Church to participate in open hearings that will be held in November and December 2023. During those hearings, the church community will have the opportunity to testify on the budget, as well as highlight any potential funding requests that might arise from upcoming resolutions to the 81st General Convention. This will allow the committee to take those requests into consideration when crafting the final budget that will be presented to the Executive Council and the General Convention. These open hearings will be held via Zoom on:

• November 9 at 7:00 PM ET
• December 9 at 2:00 PM ET
• December 12 at 7:00 PM ET

In addition, at 4:00 PM ET on Monday, November 20, the budget committee will hold a Zoom session with the Executive Council. The public is invited to observe the session on YouTube,  but will not be able to participate.

This will be the only opportunity that the church will have to offer input on the budget before it is finalized and presented to the Executive Council and thereafter to the General Convention. It is crucial that the committee hears from the church at this time. Additionally, the committee will hold canonically required hearings on the budget on May 16, 2024, and at General Convention.

Please see the announcement on the open hearings and sign up to speak or to listen to the discussions. We look forward to listening to the will of the church and to where we are called in our mission and use of our resources.

The Executive Council’s Joint Budget Committee has prepared a working balanced budget. The Committee will present a proposed triennium budget to the Executive Council at its January 2024 meeting for approval in order for the budget to be presented to the General Convention for adoption by both Houses at their meeting in June 2024.

The working budget is to be released to the public at the end of October. The Joint Budget Committee invites Episcopalians to offer their input on the working budget prior to its presentation to the Executive Council at open hearings to offer their comments on the working budget and to make known to the Joint Committee budget requests and priorities that may arise out of resolutions that will be presented at the General Convention. This will provide the Joint Committee with information on priorities and potential budget requests arising from the work of the General Convention in crafting the final proposed budget. The working budget is available to view by clicking here after October 27, 2023.

You are invited to these pre-convention open hearing sessions by Zoom by registering to be a speaker or to listen to the session by clicking on the link below. Open hearings will be held:

• November 9 at 7:00 PM ET
• December 9 at 2:00 PM ET
• December 12 at 7:00 PM ET

A special hearing session will be held on November 20, 2023 at 4:00 PM ET for members of the Executive Council only. Non-Executive Council members will be able to observe the session on YouTube, but will not be able to participate.

Register Here

Written responses can also be submitted online at:
BudgetCommittee@episcopalchurch.org

6/26/23: Executive Council to meet June 30 to discuss budget income

6/8/23: Joint Budget Committee offers June 20 listening session on income

3/8/23: Joint Budget Committee offers April 17 listening session

2/11/23: Joint Budget Committee shares update on 2025-2027 budget process

2023-2024 Budget